We are a professional organization with an international membership made up of a diverse group of scholars, archivists, librarians, allied professionals, retired people, and students who share a commitment to studying the history of health, healthcare, and medicine. The events of the past few years have led us to reflect on our organization’s identity and goals for the future. These events include, but are not limited to: the rapid spread of COVID19 around the globe, the racial and ethnic disparities in who has been impacted by the virus in the United States, the blaming of China and Chinese Americans for the virus and violence against AsianAmericans that has followed; the extra judicial killings of Black people and people of color in the United States, the inhumane treatment of migrants on our southern border including the separation of migrant children from their families, the continued attack on LGBTQ+ rights, and the gender disparities exaggerated by COVID19 shutdowns.
We are making a choice to adopt anti-racism practices and policies in our organization. While we have stated our opposition to racism and racial violence, our words need to be supported by actions in order for them to have meaning and impact. As historians, we emphasize change over time and grapple with complicated events and figures. We choose to apply the tools of our profession to our own history, to examine how our organization has evolved since its inception in 1925 and to recognize and confront our organization’s own biases and racial legacies. We look backwards in an effort to chart a path forward as an organization that confronts and resists racism within our ranks and within our society. We recognize that our history is complicated and confronting it can be uncomfortable. We also recognize that this is an ongoing process; a one time solution is not enough to dismantle years of deeply ingrained inequities.
In the spirit of pushing ourselves to be better; to be more inclusive and to orient our organization towards justice, we choose to practice anti-racism and foster diversity in the following ways. At the time of writing, we define diversity as the intersection of race, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic status, disability, ethnicity, religion and creed, national origin or ancestry, family status, or veteran status. Recognizing that standing committees have already engaged in this work, and the definition of diversity is likely to evolve, Council and AAHM will revisit this statement every other year.
For the full Anti-Racism Statement please see the February 2022 newsletter, page 6